BabelStone Fonts

BabelStone Ogham Fonts

Description

These are a set of twelve Unicode Ogham fonts in seven font families, representing a variety of different styles of Ogham letters found in manuscripts and on Ogham stone inscriptions.

Font

Style

Description

BabelStone Ogham

Regular

General-purpose stemline font with manuscript-style glyph forms.

Italic

The same, but with directionally-angled B-series and H-series letters.

BabelStone Ogham Bound

Regular

Stemline font with bind letters.

Italic

The same, but with directionally-angled B-series and H-series letters, and directionally-angled vowel letters.

BabelStone Ogham Fixed

Regular

Monospaced stemline font.

BabelStone Ogham Stemless

Regular

Stemless font with dot-shaped vowel letters.

BabelStone Ogham Lithic

Regular

Stemline font with bold strokes and dot-shaped vowel letters, emulating the style of letters found on classic Ogham pillar stones.

BabelStone Ogham Pictish

Regular

Stemline font based on the styles of Ogham letters found on the Ogham stone inscriptions from the Pictish areas of Scotland (eastern coast of Scotland, Orkney Isles, and Shetland Isles). The font comprises Regular, Bold, Italic and Bold-Italic versions which are not actually bold and/or italic but have different styles of letters (bold for bind letters; italic for directionally-angled letters). This allows the user to select a different style of Ogham letters by simply changing the font style. Regular style has no bind letters, straight B-series and H-series letters, straight vowel letters.

Same as BabelStone Ogham Pictish Regular, but has some rare glyph forms: S-shaped A, Rabbit-eared D, Diagonal I, S-shaped M-series letters, and disjoined letter Eabhadh. This font is not intended to be used on its own, but as a source of special glyph forms for certain letters when used in conjunction with BabelStone Ogham Pictish.

Examples of Pictish Inscriptions

Pictish Ogham inscriptions are written using a variety of styles of Ogham lettering, and many include unusual letters such as "Hammerhead A" and "Rabbit-eared D" that may be insignificant glyph variants or may indicate phonetic distinctions. Representing these Ogham texts accurately is impossible using a generic Ogham font, but by using the BabelStone Ogham Pictish and BabelStone Ogham Special fonts it is possible to render Pictish Ogham texts with glyph forms that closely match those used in the actual inscriptions. Two examples of particularly problematic Ogham texts are shown below.

A. Bressay Inscription

Ogham inscription on the sides of a cross slab from Bressay in Shetland (BREAY/1).

Screenshot of text rendered using the BabelStone Ogham Pictish and BabelStone Ogham Special fonts in Internet Explorer 10 under Windows 7

Unicode text of inscription rendered using the BabelStone Ogham Pictish (Regular and Italic) and BabelStone Ogham Special fonts (using WOFF fonts if these fonts are not installed on your local machine)

B. Lunnasting Inscription

Screenshot of text rendered using the BabelStone Ogham Pictish and BabelStone Ogham Special fonts in Internet Explorer 10 under Windows 7

Unicode text of inscription rendered using the BabelStone Ogham Pictish (Bold and Bold-Italic) and BabelStone Ogham Special fonts (using WOFF fonts if these fonts are not installed on your local machine)

ᚕᚈᚈᚗᚉᚒᚆᚕᚈᚈᚄ᛬ᚐᚆᚕᚆᚆᚈᚈᚐᚅᚅᚅ᛬ᚆᚉᚉᚃᚃᚓᚃᚃ᛬ᚅᚓᚆᚆᚈᚑᚅᚅ

ÉTTÚCUHÉTTS:AHÉHHTTANNN:HCCVVEVV:NEHHTON[N]

Samples

BabelStone OghamRegular (36 points)

BabelStone OghamItalic (36 points)

BabelStone Ogham BoundRegular (36 points)

BabelStone Ogham BoundItalic (36 points)

BabelStone Ogham Fixed (36 points)

BabelStone Ogham Stemless (36 points)

BabelStone Ogham Lithic (36 points)

BabelStone Ogham PictishRegular (36 points)

BabelStone Ogham PictishItalic (36 points)

BabelStone Ogham PictishBold (36 points)

BabelStone Ogham PictishBold Italic (36 points)

BabelStone Ogham Special (36 points)

Character Repertoire

The tables below render each character in the specified BabelStone Ogham font, either using the font installed on your local machine or using WOFF fonts if the font is not installed on your local machine.

Ogham [1680..169F]

Code Point

Character Name

BabelStone Ogham

BabelStone Ogham Bound

BabelStone Ogham Fixed

BabelStone Ogham Stemless

BabelStone Ogham Lithic

BabelStone Ogham Pictish

BabelStone Ogham Special

Regular

Italic

Regular

Italic

Regular

Italic

Bold

Bold Italic

U+1680

OGHAM SPACE MARK

U+1681

OGHAM LETTER BEITH

ᚁ

ᚁ

ᚁ

ᚁ

ᚁ

ᚁ

ᚁ

ᚁ

ᚁ

ᚁ

ᚁ

ᚁ

U+1682

OGHAM LETTER LUIS

ᚂ

ᚂ

ᚂ

ᚂ

ᚂ

ᚂ

ᚂ

ᚂ

ᚂ

ᚂ

ᚂ

ᚂ

U+1683

OGHAM LETTER FEARN

ᚃ

ᚃ

ᚃ

ᚃ

ᚃ

ᚃ

ᚃ

ᚃ

ᚃ

ᚃ

ᚃ

ᚃ

U+1684

OGHAM LETTER SAIL

ᚄ

ᚄ

ᚄ

ᚄ

ᚄ

ᚄ

ᚄ

ᚄ

ᚄ

ᚄ

ᚄ

ᚄ

U+1685

OGHAM LETTER NION

ᚅ

ᚅ

ᚅ

ᚅ

ᚅ

ᚅ

ᚅ

ᚅ

ᚅ

ᚅ

ᚅ

ᚅ

U+1686

OGHAM LETTER UATH

ᚆ

ᚆ

ᚆ

ᚆ

ᚆ

ᚆ

ᚆ

ᚆ

ᚆ

ᚆ

ᚆ

ᚆ

U+1687

OGHAM LETTER DAIR

ᚇ

ᚇ

ᚇ

ᚇ

ᚇ

ᚇ

ᚇ

ᚇ

ᚇ

ᚇ

ᚇ

ᚇ

U+1688

OGHAM LETTER TINNE

ᚈ

ᚈ

ᚈ

ᚈ

ᚈ

ᚈ

ᚈ

ᚈ

ᚈ

ᚈ

ᚈ

ᚈ

U+1689

OGHAM LETTER COLL

ᚉ

ᚉ

ᚉ

ᚉ

ᚉ

ᚉ

ᚉ

ᚉ

ᚉ

ᚉ

ᚉ

ᚉ

U+168A

OGHAM LETTER CEIRT

ᚊ

ᚊ

ᚊ

ᚊ

ᚊ

ᚊ

ᚊ

ᚊ

ᚊ

ᚊ

ᚊ

ᚊ

U+168B

OGHAM LETTER MUIN

ᚋ

ᚋ

ᚋ

ᚋ

ᚋ

ᚋ

ᚋ

ᚋ

ᚋ

ᚋ

ᚋ

ᚋ

U+168C

OGHAM LETTER GORT

ᚌ

ᚌ

ᚌ

ᚌ

ᚌ

ᚌ

ᚌ

ᚌ

ᚌ

ᚌ

ᚌ

ᚌ

U+168D

OGHAM LETTER NGEADAL

ᚍ

ᚍ

ᚍ

ᚍ

ᚍ

ᚍ

ᚍ

ᚍ

ᚍ

ᚍ

ᚍ

ᚍ

U+168E

OGHAM LETTER STRAIF

ᚎ

ᚎ

ᚎ

ᚎ

ᚎ

ᚎ

ᚎ

ᚎ

ᚎ

ᚎ

ᚎ

ᚎ

U+168F

OGHAM LETTER RUIS

ᚏ

ᚏ

ᚏ

ᚏ

ᚏ

ᚏ

ᚏ

ᚏ

ᚏ

ᚏ

ᚏ

ᚏ

U+1690

OGHAM LETTER AILM

ᚐ

ᚐ

ᚐ

ᚐ

ᚐ

ᚐ

ᚐ

ᚐ

ᚐ

ᚐ

ᚐ

ᚐ

U+1691

OGHAM LETTER ONN

ᚑ

ᚑ

ᚑ

ᚑ

ᚑ

ᚑ

ᚑ

ᚑ

ᚑ

ᚑ

ᚑ

ᚑ

U+1692

OGHAM LETTER UR

ᚒ

ᚒ

ᚒ

ᚒ

ᚒ

ᚒ

ᚒ

ᚒ

ᚒ

ᚒ

ᚒ

ᚒ

U+1693

OGHAM LETTER EADHADH

ᚓ

ᚓ

ᚓ

ᚓ

ᚓ

ᚓ

ᚓ

ᚓ

ᚓ

ᚓ

ᚓ

ᚓ

U+1694

OGHAM LETTER IODHADH

ᚔ

ᚔ

ᚔ

ᚔ

ᚔ

ᚔ

ᚔ

ᚔ

ᚔ

ᚔ

ᚔ

ᚔ

U+1695

OGHAM LETTER EABHADH

ᚕ

ᚕ

ᚕ

ᚕ

ᚕ

ᚕ

ᚕ

ᚕ

ᚕ

ᚕ

ᚕ

ᚕ

U+1696

OGHAM LETTER OR

ᚖ

ᚖ

ᚖ

ᚖ

ᚖ

ᚖ

ᚖ

ᚖ

ᚖ

ᚖ

ᚖ

ᚖ

U+1697

OGHAM LETTER UILLEANN

ᚗ

ᚗ

ᚗ

ᚗ

ᚗ

ᚗ

ᚗ

ᚗ

ᚗ

ᚗ

ᚗ

ᚗ

U+1698

OGHAM LETTER IFIN

ᚘ

ᚘ

ᚘ

ᚘ

ᚘ

ᚘ

ᚘ

ᚘ

ᚘ

ᚘ

ᚘ

ᚘ

U+1699

OGHAM LETTER EAMHANCHOLL

ᚙ

ᚙ

ᚙ

ᚙ

ᚙ

ᚙ

ᚙ

ᚙ

ᚙ

ᚙ

ᚙ

ᚙ

U+169A

OGHAM LETTER PEITH

ᚚ

ᚚ

ᚚ

ᚚ

ᚚ

ᚚ

ᚚ

ᚚ

ᚚ

ᚚ

ᚚ

ᚚ

U+169B

OGHAM FEATHER MARK

᚛

᚛

᚛

᚛

᚛

᚛

᚛

᚛

᚛

᚛

᚛

᚛

U+169C

OGHAM REVERSED FEATHER MARK

᚜

᚜

᚜

᚜

᚜

᚜

᚜

᚜

᚜

᚜

᚜

᚜

Runic [16A0..16FF]

Runic punctuation marks are included as a couple of Ogham inscriptions from the Shetland Isles use a double-dot word separator mark under Norse Runic influence, and as the Runic punctuation marks are common to all scripts, the Runic double-dot punctuation mark (U+16EC) seems to me to be the best fit for the double-dot word separator mark used in Ogham inscriptions.

OpenType Features

Used to convert ligatured double R <168F 200D 168F> (RUIS-ZWJ-RUIS) to the crosshatched double R glyph form found on some Pictish Ogham inscriptions.ᚏ​‍​ᚏ ⇒ ᚏ‍ᚏ

* Tested as working under Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 10 and Notepad. This feature may not work under other operating systems and/or with other applications. Note that OpenType features do not work with the WOFF versions of the BabelStone Ogham fonts, and you will need to install the BabelStone Ogham fonts locally in order for the ligatured double R to render as expected.

WOFF Fonts

All BabelStone Ogham fonts are available in Web Open Font Format (WOFF) formats, which can be dynamically downloaded and installed by most modern browsers. If you have the fonts installed locally on your machine then the local fonts should be used in preference to the WOFF fonts. I have tested the WOFF fonts on IE10 and Chrome under Windows 7, and they seem to work well, although I have noticed the following issues :

Under IE10 the local version of "Babelstone Pictish Ogham Bold Italic" is not found and the WOFF font is used instead.

Ogham Keyboard Layout

An Ogham keyboard layout conforming to Irish Standard 434:1999 is available for download from here.

Download

All BabelStone Ogham fonts on this page are licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, which means you are free to use them for personal or commercial purposes, and to redistribute them by themselves or as part of a free or commercial software package, just as long as you do not sell the fonts on their own. The license also allows you to modify the fonts in any way you like, as long as the modified fonts do not use "BabelStone" in their name. Please read the license for details.